Path to conversion

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Gmsod

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Hello. I am trying to figure out which church JESUS established and he has led me to the Catholic and Orthodox churches. I wanted to ask y’all how you came to the church and what path you would recommend for me. Reading apologetics seems to just give me more defenses for both sides. Should i just keep reading and if so are there any particular threads books or people who really helped (besides GOD and Mary of course 😉 )? Suggestions and testimonies from both Orthodox and Catholic are appreciated. I have been reading hours every day on forums and essays and writings and podcasts about this. I have been praying every day for GOD to lead me home and i need all the prayer i can. Also pray please for those going through similar circumstances. Thanks and GOD bless!
 
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Of course, pray much.

Perhaps visit a priest and ask him questions on both sides, maybe book reccomendations from them.
I don’t know what you are reading, but forums might not be the best source of information necessarily. It can be sometimes, though. I’ve always been a Catholic, but just sorta very affected by various false things like Protestant teaching and some other stuff.
A lot of info can be found online, which is mainly what I did. But I suspect for you a real person may help.
 
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I am a big fan of applied religion. We can get our theory from a book a text , the Bible. But then, when we apply it practically, we get a new dimension.

I can read how to shell an egg, but actually shelling that egg is where my physical knowledge will come from.

So just go to Catholic Mass. get in touch with your local Parish and meet the welcome folks, and sit in Mass. You won’t know what’s going on too much to begin with. Just sit, listen and pray.

You cannot take communion, so stay seated when people line up to receive communion. Just keep praying.

Then if you feel the Catholic Church is for you, sign up for RCIA.

This is Holy Week so it’s a great time to go see what Mass is like. If you go to Holy Thursday you can see the new Catholics being baptised and receiving the Sacraments. It’s a joyous night in that respect.
 
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Thank you for the advise. I have been attending a local novus ordo parish and it is a beautiful place to be. I want to start attending a Coptic or orthodox parish soon. I wouldn’t dare take communion yet, so thanks for the reminder :).
 
You cannot take communion until you receive the sacrament.

I am not sure if the Orthodox and Coptic churches are in Communuion with Rome. I have never been to their Masses.

Perhaps @twf, @Spyridon can help or @Saxum
 
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They are definitely not in communion with Rome. That is what i am deliberating on.
 
Gmsod, go to Tenebrae this week at your Catholic Parish . It’s beautiful
 
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The Oriental Orthodox Churches, which includes the Coptic Orthodox Church, are not in full communion with Rome, nor are the Eastern Orthodox Churches. That being said, members of both groups are, from a Catholic perspective, permitted to receive communion in the Catholic Church. Their own bishops will have varying opinions on this matter. Catholics, in turn, from a Catholic perspective, are permitted to receive communion from Oriental or Eastern Orthodox priests if unable to approach a Catholic priest… but of course only if the Orthodox priest agrees.

That being said, both Oriental and Eastern Orthodox Churches, including the Coptic Orthodox, have Catholic counterparts: the various Eastern Catholic Churches, which are in full communion with Rome.
 
Thankyou TWF.

@Gmsod maybe you run the risk of becoming really confused if attending them all.

How or where would you start, is my question.
 
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Would you please elaborate on getting confused? They are all pretty distinct in terms of what they believe despite the Coptic and orthodox being almost identical it seems in liturgy.
 
Because these are different churches, they will have different ritual, custom, beliefs. For example some of these do not believe so much in the perfect human nature of Jesus in the Incarnation… They concentrate on the Divine nature of Jesus in His Incarnation and on the Gospel of John rather then the Synoptic Gospels.

The RCC places emphasis on both the perfect human nature of Jesus and the perfect divine nature of Jesus in His Incarnation.

We see the perfect human nature of Jesus in His anger at the Temple and in His grief at the death of Lazarus.

You might become very confused as to the differing theologies.
 
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I’m reading this currently and I absolutely love it! It’s beautifully written, and there’s so much truth in it.
 
Study the ecclesial laws and see which best meets your needs. For example: If you ever want to be a married priest, go Orthodox.
 
I appreciate your concern. I’ve been studying the different branches of Christinisty side by side so i believe GOD has blessed me with a pretty firm grasp of what each believes. So even if i don’t know what i believe yet totally, i want to know all the areas i am sure of. I am interested in what’s you say about focusing on John as opposed to the synoptic Gospels because the Orthodox do stress CHRIST’s conquering of death, kingship, and divinity it seems more than Catholics. I don’t see this as a problem, just a different perspective unless it bleeds over into denying his humanity or the other Gospels, which the Orthodox do not. What do you mean when you say some deny his perfect human nature? Are you referring to Monophysitism or miaphysitism. I believe the Coptic have signed agreements with Rome (or maybe Constantinople but either way it works) saying their CHROSTology is compatible.
 
No joke. He should know the canon laws he’d be bound to before choosing the church. They vary greatly and are binding once on converts.
 
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